It’s unsurprising that the driver of a vehicle with the design and horsepower of a race car would want to “give it a little squeeze”, as he told police when pulled over for doing 233km/h on the Hume Highway last week.
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But outside the controlled environment of a race track, it’s almost suicidal – and homicidal. “If something goes wrong at that speed, there are no second chances,” said highway patrol Sergeant Michael Connors.
In response to our Facebook post of the news item, some readers suggested penalties for such an offence. These included putting the driver face-to-face with road crash victims, or crushing the car, or speed limiters.
As it was, the sports car was seized under hoon legislation and impounded for 28 days. The 47-year-old male driver has been charged with offences, including dangerous driving, to appear in court at a future date.
As at February 15, 49 people had died on NSW roads this year so far. This is 12 more fatalities than in the same period in 2017, according to NSW Transport statistics. A total 392 people died on NSW roads in 2017.
The State Government recently announced a road safety plan that aims to address speeding, drink driving, drug driving, driver distraction, driver fatigue, truck safety, and funding to improve safety on country roads.
But we all know that, despite every effort, there will still be those who tempt their fate and break the rules. The Hume Highway seems a mecca for such drivers, who treat it like an autobahn instead of a country road.
It was just over a month ago that a driver was charged twice in the one day for two speeding offences on the 110km/h-capped highway, including driving at 130km/h near Mittagong, then later at 190km/h near Jerrawa.
Clearly, despite the road rules and the horror crash headlines, the warnings will not resonate with some drivers, and there will be many more innocent lives – pedestrians and motorists alike – at risk, and lost.
It brings to mind the throwaway line in the ever-unresolved gun debate in America: that “guns don’t kill people; people kill people”. Well, then, cars don’t kill people … but people ‘armed’ with cars do.
Australia has, in recent history, not suffered mass gun violence as witnessed in the US, and that is popularly attributed to the post-Port Arthur gun laws. Is it time for our lawmakers to set the bar for car ownership as high as it is for guns?
